Mesa/Boogie DC3 manual

1317 Ross Street Petaluma, CA 94954 USA The Spirit of Art in Technology OO GI E B M ESA D U AL C ALIBER DC - 3 Owner's Manua l[...]

YOU, the smart player and all around intuitive human, have put your trust in us to be your amplifier company. This is something we do not take lightly. Our reward is that we've made a classic amplifier and by choosing this amplifier, you have become part of the MESA family...Welcome! Our goal is to never let you down. Your reward is that you a[...]

Your MESA/Boogie Amplifier is a professional instrument. Please treat it with respect and operate it properly. USE COMMON SENSE AND ALWAYS OBSERVE THESE PRECAUTIONS: Do not expose amplifier to moisture, rain or water , direct sunlight or extremely high temperatures. Always insure that amplifier is properly grounded. Always unplug AC power cord befo[...]

T ABLE OF CONTENTS Precautions FRONT PANEL Description and Usage Gain Treble Mid Presence Reverb Master Bass Page # 0 1 2 & 3 4 5 6 3 3 4 & 5 3 & 4 4 5 REAR PANEL Description and Usage Fuse FX Loop Send / Return FX Mix EQ Select Recording / Silent Recording Slave Speaker (impedance matching) 8 9 9 7 7 7 7 8 8 Suggested Sample Settings &[...]

DC-3 Operating Instructions Overview: Y our DC-3 amplifier was designed to deliver maximum performance in a format based on simplicity . Its easy to dial nature allows each of the two channels to deliver a wide range of sounds in both clean and overdrive styles. This Dual Caliber uses four EL-84 power tubes to fuel its healthy thirty-five watt powe[...]

P AGE 2 First familiarize yourself with the layout of the Front Panel and locate the Lead / Rhythm switch on the right side of the chas sis, next to the Standby Switch. This toggles you between the top (Rhythm) Channel and the bottom (Lead) Channel. If you don’t have the Rhythm/Lead Footswitch connected, this switch will activate the channel swit[...]

P AGE 3 probably a good time to mention that most of the great sounds can be found by setting the GAIN Control moderately , especially i n the LEAD Channel. For example, somewhere between 2 thru 6 In the RHYTHM Channel try setting this control somewhere between 3 thru 8 . Use of moderation here will reduce the likelihood of pesky tube microphonic p[...]

sounds in this channel. In the LEAD Channel, try setting the BASS Control somewhere between 3 and 6 . These settings will vary with the amount of Gain and T reble you have dialed up. These two controls attenuate the upper high end harmonics and control dynamic compression in the power section. High settings produce more sparkle and cut, lending a m[...]

NOTE: When trying to use your DC-3 at extremely low volume levels it will be necessary to reduce the far left Gain control. Once the Masters and Output Levels has been reduced to roughly 1.5 , reducing the Masters or Output Level below this point causes phase interaction that prevents a clean signal from passing through this circuit junction. If yo[...]

P AGE 6 This toggle calls up one channel or the other and can take the place of the Channel Select footswitch when there isn’t one hand y. Perfect for set breaks... this toggle switch also serves an even more important purpose. In the Standby position the tubes are at idle so that during power up they may warm up before being put to use. Before P[...]

P AGE 7 This is the A.C.’s (Alternating Current) main fuse and provides electrical current protection from outside A.C. fluctuations, a s well as power tube failure damage. Should the FUSE blow , replace it with the same rating in a slo-blo type package. The domestic U.S. version requires a 2.5 amp slo-blo fuse. A power tube short or failure is o[...]

These two 1/4" jacks are thae patch point for external effects. The Effects Loop is wired in parallel with the normal signal. Connect the SEND jack to your Effects Input jack. Connect the RETURN jack to the Output jack of your ef fect. The Effects Loop is a patc h point between the pre-amp and power section. Therefore, the RETURN jack can doub[...]

P AGE 9 This 1/4" jack and control provide a signal derived from the speaker jack. Perfect for using the DC-3 as a master pre-amp, or additional power amps may be connected for more power when needed. Some players use this to derive an FX Send Signal and go to other amps for their wet sound. NOTE: Once a signal is taken from the SLA V E it can[...]

P AGE 10 SUGGESTED SAMPLE SETTINGS SAMPLE 1 Sparkling Clean SAMPLE 2 Pushed Bluesy Rhythm/Solo SAMPLE 3 Crunch Rhythm High Gain Lead/Crunch SAMPLE 4 Lead CHANNEL Rhythm CHANNEL Rhythm CHANNEL Rhythm CHANNEL GAIN TREBLE MID BASS PRESENCE REVERB MASTER INPUT FOOT SWITCH 5 5 1 4 2 2 4 DC-3 C ALIBER D UA L OUTPUT LEVEL 3 STANDBY POWER LEAD ON ON RHYTHM[...]

P AGE 1 1 PERSONAL SETTINGS PAGE INPUT FOOT SWITCH DC-3 C ALIBER D UA L STANDBY POWER LEAD ON ON RHYTHM 80 240 750 2200 6600 GAIN TREBLE MID BASS PRESENCE REVERB MASTER OUTPUT LEVEL INPUT FOOT SWITCH DC-3 C ALIBER D UA L STANDBY POWER LEAD ON ON RHYTHM 80 240 750 2200 6600 GAIN TREBLE MID BASS PRESENCE REVERB MASTER OUTPUT LEVEL GAIN TREBLE MID BAS[...]

P AGE 12 TUBE TASK CHART NOTE: BEFORE CHANGING TUBES FLIP POWER SWITCH TO STANDBY. Dual Caliber DC-3 12AX7 REAR OF CHASSIS GRAY REVERB WHITE (Each 12AX7 contains two separate Triodes) V 6 V 5 V 4 V 3 V 2 V 1 B A B A B A B A B A B A Partial View Of Chassis EL-84 Description of Tube Functions V1A= First Rhythm V1B= First Lead V2A= Second Lead V2B= Th[...]

P AGE 13 Y ou may occasionally experience some form of tube noise or microphonics. Certainly no cause for alarm, this quirky behavior com es with the territory and the T one. Much like changing a light bulb, you don’t need a technician to cure these types of minor user serviceable annoyances and in fact, you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to cu[...]

Because your amplifier is an all tube design, it is quite possible that you will at some point experience minor pre-amp tube no ise. Rest assured - this is no cause for alarm and you can take care of the problem yourself in a matter of minutes by simply swapping tu bes. Let us begin by saying; It is a “very good” idea to keep at least a couple [...]

P AGE 15 Here’s a question we often hear: “Why doesn’t Mesa put bias adjustments in their amplifiers?” Well, there’ s a short answer and a long answer to this question. The short answer is that during my 12 years of repairing Fenders, one of the most frequent problems I saw was bias controls tha t were either set wrong or that had wandere[...]

P AGE 16 V oltage and current are NOT the same. Current is the AMOUNT of electricity , the “quantity” — and is measured in amperes. V olt age is the degree of electric charge — like the “pressure” to use the old water analogy . Let me illustrate how dif ferent voltage and current are: When you scrape your feet across a carpetted floor i[...]

P AGE 17 Some of the other recommended biasing, “methods” — such as -”.. tubes running red hot, increase the bias .. sounds harsh and ru ns too cool, turn it down ...” are guesswork at best. Luckily , one of the great things about tube amps is that they can usually s tand some abuse without causing any real harm ... at least not immediate[...]

GAIN TREBLE MID BASS PRESENCE REVERB MASTER INPUT FOOT SWITCH 80 240 750 2200 6600 STANDBY POWER LEAD ON ON RHYTHM D UAL C ALIBER DC-3 OUTPUT LEVEL EQ SELECT RETURN RECORDING FX MIX 0% SEND OUT RHY LEAD FT SW IN 1 00 % FTSW EQ/REV HANDBUILT IN PETALUMA PATENT APPLIED FOR SILENT RECORDING MUTE SPKR ON SLAVE 8 OHM 4 OHM 4 OHM SPEAKERS OOGI E B M ESA [...]

The Spirit of Art in Technology OO GI E B M ESA Thank you for trusting MESA/Boogie to be your amplifie r company. We wish you many years of toneful enjoyment from this handbuilt all tube instrument.[...]

The Spirit of Art in Technology 1317 Ross Street Petaluma, CA 94954 USA (707) 778-6565 FAX NO. (707) 765-1503[...]